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Surname Saturday – Stirzaker

I have four people with the name Stirzaker in my family tree. It’s not a name I have researched yet. So the earliest person I have is Richard who married my great aunt, Isabel Musgrove in 1927. The marriage is registered at Preston in Lancashire.

According to the website surnamedb Stirzaker is a “curious” surname of old Scandinavian origin. It is said to be a locational name from a place called Stiracre in the parish of Garstang in Lancashire.

The place name is believed to come from the old Norse personal name “Styrr” together with the Olde English pre 7th century “aecer” meaning ploughed field or cultivated land – in old Norse this would be “akr”. Therefore – Styrr’s akr.

In modern times the name has four spelling variations: Stirzaker, Starzaker, Sterzaker and Sturzaker.

On September 5th 1567, Anthony Stirzaker and Elisabeth Philipson were married at Garstang, Lancashire, and on November 6th 1568, Alice Stirzaker married James Orton also at Garstang.

In 1664, Robert Sturzaker of Garstang was recorded in the “Exchequer Depositions”, Lancashire, and in 1668, Evan Pilkinton, of Sturzaker, in Garstang, was noted in the Lancashire Wills Records held at Richmond.

The surname appears in London Church Registers of the 17th and 18th Centuries: entries include the christening of Ellen, daughter of Joseph and Isabella Stirzaker, at St. Andrew Holborn, on January 14th 1703.

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Steresacre, which was dated 1332, in the “Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire”.